Running Aimlessly Down Under - From 54 to 53 sec 400m

Chivito550

For anyone interested in following my training I'm using the app Sweat Mobile. It was co founded by Nick Symmonds and there's lots of elite (as well as non elite of course) athletes on there logging their training.

If you search my name you should find me. It's just a quicker and easier place to log my training, and there are more sprinters on it too. So for anybody interested I'm going to see how logging my training there goes. I want to get away from time consuming updates and race reports.

I'll probably post the very occasional update here.

El Caballo

Who I am I going to argue with now?;) Best of luck with it man.

Chivito550

El Caballo wrote: »

Who I am I going to argue with now?;) Best of luck with it man.

Haha. There's no shortage of people to argue with on the main forum that's for sure.

pconn062

Empty your inbox!

Chivito550

I was going to wait until after the end of the indoor season wraps up at Leinsters next weekend to do up a brief update, covering the entire indoor season in one post, but yesterday at National Indoors was quite a special day in my running life, so I feel it justifies a bit more detail. So I'll post a short update of my indoor season before Nationals, and then post a report on Nationals soon when I get a bit more time.

I made a decision after last season to stop posting my training here, and it's a decision I am glad I have made. I post my training on the Sweat Mobile app as it is just a handy way of quickly recording my training, but I found I was spending a bit too much time writing regular detailed updates on this log, and frankly I was getting bored doing so. However I'd still like to post occasional updates on the racing side of things.

Training update:

Training has gone very well since starting back at the end of September. I missed no more than maybe 2-3 days of training throughout, with the exception of 13 days over Christmas where I got wiped out with the flu, which meant I needed to scratch a planned meet in early January. I've been training consistently 5 days a week, 2 days gym, 2 days track, 1 day hills. We have a new coach and she has brought a lot of new ideas, and a huge amount of fun to the group. The group is thriving, with new members, and big turnouts. Our previous coach is still involved in an assistant coach capacity, so the setup is absolutely great, and training has become so much fun.

I've been getting stronger in the gym. I've been following a periodisation approach, starting with adaptation phase, followed by strength phase, then power, and then maintenance, building into the indoor season. I'll repeat again then for outdoors. I'm up to doing deep back squats at 80kg for 3 reps, and deadlifts using the trap bar at 112.5kg for 3 reps.

Goals:

60m: PB entering the season was 8.05 from 2 season's ago. Last season was a disaster due to just being back from a groin tear and only managed 8.19. The goal was to run sub 7.90.

200m: The 60m was the main goal, and the 200m was secondary due to the inherent unfairness of the event. I couldn't get too bogged down with times as there was no guarantee I'd get one of the favoured lanes of 4-6. Indoor PB was 25.66 from lane 6 from 2015, so I certainly wanted to beat this, if I could get a bit of luck with the lane draw.

Believe and Achieve meet - Athlone - December 2016

Decided to do this meet as a baseline for where I was at. Had my Christmas party the night before so didn't drink too much, but only got about 5 and a half hours sleep as had to get up early to make the trek down.

60m: - 7.99

A pleasing start to the season. First time under 8 seconds, which is a big barrier for me to break. A PB by 0.06 seconds. Was in lane 4 and finished 4th out of 5, in what was a good competitive race to be in.

150m - 19.15

Was in lane 4. Finished 4th of 4 but only pipped for third by 0.03. I wanted sub 19, but given it's indoors I was happy enough with that time on the tight bends. A strange distance indoors. PB by default as have never raced 150m before.

AAI Games - Abbotstown - February 2017

60m (Race 1) - 7.89

Huge PB by 0.10 seconds, already hitting my goal for the season. Didn't even feel perfect by any means. Had to deal with a faulty start and a false start too. Came 6th out of 7 but was very close to 5th and reasonably close to 4th.

60m (Race 2) - 7.92

Was in lane 7 with nobody in lane 8. Got a flyer and the race felt better as a whole than last time, so was surprised I didn't run faster, but good consistency. Was 0.30 down on a lad who ran 51.2 in the 400 after. Happy to be within that distance of him. Had a false start to deal with here too.

200m - 26.03 (lane 2)

Got a terrible lane draw, and all the other lads were running 22/23, so this was a time trial basically, from an awful lane. 0.37 down on my indoor PB (from lane 6). Adjusting for lanes it was probably pretty close.

Chivito550

Goals:

As detailed in the last post, I had already achieved my target of sub 7.90 for the indoor season in the 60m, with a 7.89 clocking at the AAI Games. I had already taken my time down from 8.05 to 7.89, so the season was a success now no matter what. But I still wanted to go faster, and hoped I could squeeze another couple of hundreths out at Nationals.

In the 200m, I hoped for all athletes to be treated fairly, and everybody to have the same random chance of getting a good or bad lane, regardless of one's PBs, something which has not always happened in the past. With a bit of luck I would get a good lane draw and attack my PB of 25.66. Worse case scenario, if I got lane 2, my main goal would be to considerably improve on my 26.03 from that same lane 2 weeks ago.

Warm up:

Somebody in the AAI was feeling very optimistic about the 1900 seats being packed to the rafters, as all temporary seating was brought out for both days, resulting in the warm up 110m track being completely covered. The result was a makeshift track area being constructed in the basketball/badminton hall next door, which had no more than a 30m stretch available, and was incredibly warm. Not ideal, but being a short sprinter now, it wouldn't bother me too much. Had I been still a 400m runner, I'd have been frustrated not to be able to do longer strides.

60m:

I was drawn in lane 2 in heat 1, which incidentally was the very first track race of the championships. There was nobody in lane 1, and there were 7 in our heat. Two of the guys I knew, and I knew they'd be around my level, one a bit faster, one a bit slower. I couldn't believe my luck. I had been drawn in a heat with guys I could have a real competitive race with. That does not usually happen at Nationals for me. The top 3 would qualify to the semi finals plus 4 fastest losers. If I could beat these two lads, I'd be 5th, but would still require a lot of luck with false starts etc to actually go through. It wasn't a thought I seriously entertained. I just wanted to nail this one.

Because I knew 2 of the guys in my race, the call room was fairly relaxed. We chatted away, and some of the other guys had a bit of banter with us too. I'm very comfortable in the call room setting these days. I'm happy to have the craic if I'm feeling the banter off others in my heat. Equally I am just as content to sit there and say nothing at all. It all varies from race to race, depending on who you are competing with. Some lads like to laugh and joke, others won't even give eye contact. It's a fascinating environment, and everybody has their own unique ways of dealing with it.

The race itself was a blur, as 60m tends to be. I got out well. Leon Reid, the eventual champion, was in the lane beside me, and I never noticed him once. I could feel myself about a metre or so ahead of the guy in lane 4, which I held throughout, and it was only at the very end that I noticed the other lad around my level, who was probably less than a metre up on me.

This guy has run sub 7.50 a few years back, but is not at his best following injuries. Regardless, I knew it was a good sign to be so close to him, as he had run 7.75 two weeks earlier. However he wasn't happy with how he ran, so I didn't want to count my chickens. I didn't have to wait long, the result appeared up on the big screen within a minute, and I squinted to try make out my time. I thought I was seeing things at first, but my eyes were not deceiving me. I had just run a massive PB of 7.80 seconds, a huge 0.09 faster than my previous best. It may not sound like much, but over 60m that is a considerable jump. I finished 6th out of 7, with the other 2 lads around me running 7.73 and 7.87.

I was absolutely over the moon with the result. I genuinely didn't think I'd run that quickly. At the start of the season I had sub 7.90 as my aim, and even that I wasn't sure I could manage. To get to 7.80 has caught me by surprise. It's great to see all the hard work in the gym, on the track, and on the hills, pay off with a result like that. The greedy side of me wanted a 7.79 as that would have looked even more presentable, but I really couldn't complain with what I got.

Overall I finished 3rd last across the 4 heats, but with 2 other lads at 7.73 and 7.76 not being far ahead of me. Running a PB at Nationals is always extra special, and it feels better when I'm not DFL. I've had plenty of DFLs in Nationals over the years.

200m:

I had a good bit of time to eat, relax, watch some of the other events, before it was time to get back into the warm up routine. This time I was in heat 5 of 6, so I had to extend my warm up a little to allow for the extra time waiting before I would get to run. You only find out what heat you are in when you are nearing the end of your warm up, so this aspect can be tricky.

I scanned down through the sheet, looking at all the lane 2s, expecting to see my name, but alas I couldn't. I was in lane 4. It appears that they put the seeded athlete in each heat into lane 6, and then did a random draw among the rest. I think this was pretty fair, and I was happy with lane 4. It's not as fast as 5 and 6, but if you were to say to me I will get nothing but lane 4 for the rest of my indoor 200m career, I would sign the dotted line immediately. It's a good lane draw.

The call room on this occasion was the complete opposite to the 60m. There was no chatting, no banter, no real eye contact. There were 4 of us in my heat, with Zak Irwin being the class of field out in lane 6. I didn't know much about the other two, but assumed they'd be in the 22/23 second range.

Gun went off, and I drove hard coming out of the blocks on the slanty bend. Came off the bend and drove down the back straight, by which time the stagger has already been eaten up on me by the guy in lane 3. I was out of my depth in this heat, and needed to just focus on my own race, something which I have a lot of experience doing. I could feel myself tensing a bit as I came around the second bend, but held my form, and got a reasonably boost with the slight downhill entering the straight. I was well behind but I was feeling good, and finished strong. I was a little over 2 seconds behind both second and third, with Irwin well out in front.

I knew it was a good run, and I expected to see a PB. The big screen confirmed this almost immediately. A clocking of 25.47 seconds, an indoor PB by 0.19 seconds. My previous best was from lane 6, so in real terms this was a greater improvement than the time suggests. I wasn't as jubilent as I was after the 60m, but I was immensely satisfied. It definitely wasn't a perfect race, and I feel I should have stayed a little more relaxed after half way, and I feel if I can get lane 5 or 6, and be in a competitive race, I can chop more time off it next week at Leinsters. If that doesn't happen it's no big deal. I'm now 0.37 down on my outdoor PB, so I'm in a good position to hopefully attack that sub 25 in the summer. Incidentally, this was my 9th fastest 200m ever, which for an indoor race, in only the third best lane, is quite satisfying.

Final Thoughts:

There's nothing like competing at Nationals. Throwing yourself in against the best there is on this land. Taking a chance on getting blown out of it by far better runners, but learning so much in the process. So little to lose, so much that can be gained. PBs are always special, but when you manage them in this type of environment, and perform in the most important meet of the season, it doesn't get much better than that. You almost want to justify your participation in it, and I think this is the type of adrenaline that perhaps is missing from other meets. My first ever Nationals, at Santry in July 2014 is still my most memorable moment in athletics, when I finally broke the 55 second barrier over 400m, for the only time in my 5 seasons as a quarter miler. However, this is right up there, and so I felt it was only right that I documented it with justice in this log.

I have Leinsters next week to close out the indoor season, before my thoughts will turn to the outdoor season.

A few years back I wrote myself off as somebody who would be poor over 60m. My start was always poor, and I wasn't the most explosive character you'd ever meet. Both of these attributes you would easily get away with not having over 400m. You never know what you can achieve when you do the specific training, have great coaching, and most importantly enjoy the training. Plenty more to come hopefully.

Mulberry

Chivito550 wrote: »

A few years back I wrote myself off as somebody who would be poor over 60m. My start was always poor, and I wasn't the most explosive character you'd ever meet. Both of these attributes you would easily get away with not having over 400m. You never know what you can achieve when you do the specific training, have great coaching, and most importantly enjoy the training. Plenty more to come hopefully.

I watched your race videos from the Nationals and noticed you were very fast out of the blocks so it's fascinating to read this. Well done on the PBs and thanks for two very interesting updates.

happygoose

Chivito550 wrote: »

I've been training consistently 5 days a week, 2 days gym, 2 days track, 1 day hills. We have a new coach and she has brought a lot of new ideas, and a huge amount of fun to the group. The group is thriving, with new members, and big turnouts. Our previous coach is still involved in an assistant coach capacity, so the setup is absolutely great, and training has become so much fun.

I've been getting stronger in the gym. I've been following a periodisation approach, starting with adaptation phase, followed by strength phase, then power, and then maintenance, building into the indoor season. I'll repeat again then for outdoors. I'm up to doing deep back squats at 80kg for 3 reps, and deadlifts using the trap bar at 112.5kg for 3 reps.

Congrats on a successful early season.

With regard to lifting - how much of a correlation do you think the gym work has with speed? Its obviously very important to you if 2/5 sessions per week are in the gym. I'm looking at Instagram vids and what not and sprinters seem pretty full on about lifting big. Do the heaviest lifters run the fastest times?

IvoryTower

happygoose wrote: »

Congrats on a successful early season.

With regard to lefting - how much of a correlation do you think the gym work has with speed? Its obviously very important to you if 2/5 sessions per week are in the gym. I'm looking at Instagram vids and what not and sprinters seem pretty full on about lifting big. Do the heaviest lifters run the fastest times?

I often wonder that as well. Like if I got my squat from 70kg to 100kg in the off season I wonder would it make a noticeable difference

Chivito550

happygoose wrote: »

Congrats on a successful early season.

With regard to lifting - how much of a correlation do you think the gym work has with speed? Its obviously very important to you if 2/5 sessions per week are in the gym. I'm looking at Instagram vids and what not and sprinters seem pretty full on about lifting big. Do the heaviest lifters run the fastest times?

IvoryTower wrote: »

I often wonder that as well. Like if I got my squat from 70kg to 100kg in the off season I wonder would it make a noticeable difference

Strength work is an integral part of any sprinter's training programme. It's not treated as "supplementary", a word I've heard used by distance runners with regards to strength training, but instead it is one of the critical aspects of training, as important as the speed work on the track, and the endurance work on the hills, steps, track etc.

I wouldn't know what the exact correlation is. It's not as simple as the heaviest lifters being the fastest runners. Obviously if you are too heavy then you may have a difficult time sprinting to your potential. Being over bulked up ain't a good thing either. Dwain Chambers was far too bulked up during his juiced up years, and I think it hindered him as much as anything. But if you get stronger while not putting on too much weight, then your power to weight ratio improves, and it stands to reason then that you'd be stronger, more powerful, and ultimately faster. All of this is very important for all sprint events, but it is obviously more crucial for 100 and 200 than it is for 400. The 400m is around 45% aerobic, so it's not all about power and speed, though without either, you will be limited in what you can run, which is why 400m runners need to be in the gym frequently too.

What I've been doing this year has been taking a periodisation approach:

Stage 1 was adaptation for around 6 weeks. A conditioning phase to get me ready for the tougher phase 2. Lots of volume, lots of reps (around 10) lots of exercises, in superset format, but with low weight, and so low intensity.

Stage 2 was strength. The number of exercises is reduced, the reps are generally at 6, and the weight is higher. Squats, deadlifts, leg press, bench press etc etc. The old reliables.

Once the strength is built, it is on to stage 3, which is the power phase, turning all the strength built up in phase 2 into power. The number of strength exercises are reduced, and those that I do are at 4 reps, and at heavier weights again. In addition I introduce plyometric exercises holding weights (squat jumps, box jumps, medicine ball throws etc). The plyometric exercises are done to help with developing fast explosive movements.

Then stage 4 is maintenance, which is done during competition phase. It's not too much different to phase 3, except I reduce the number of sets from 3 to 2 for the strength exercises (squats, deadlifts etc) and the number of reps down to 3 from 4.

IvoryTower

What stage are you at now? And when is next stage?

Chivito550

IvoryTower wrote: »

What stage are you at now? And when is next stage?

I've just finished off the stage 4 - Maintenance as Sunday will be the end of my indoor season. After that I'll go back to stage 1 and repeat the process until outdoors. We have 2 weeks off scheduled for after all the masters athletes in the group are finished the indoor season, so 3 more weeks of training until then. I might take a week off the gym next week, and then get back into a shorter adaptation (phase 1) stage to start the cycle again, and then maybe keep the gym work going during our 2 weeks off training. I'll have to see how I'll work it. Would be far easier to go on my break straight after Sunday, but there's more than seniors in the group, and it makes more sense for us all to go on a short break at the same time. In any case, probably mid April I'll be back into stage 2, which should take me through to the end of May. Then Stage 3 for June, and gravitate over to Stage 4 in July, in time for Nationals. I'll take it as it comes though.

Chivito550

Leinster Championships really were a day to forget, and outside of the craic with my training group (we must have had about 12 people competing, along with a couple more who came to watch), this is not an event I will look back on fondly. Nothing seemed to go right.

60m: No time

What an absolute farce. Did very little all weekend so I'd be in top shape to have a craic at my PB of 7.80 from last weekend. Got myself warmed up far too early, as there were an endless amount of heats in each category. Kept warm, and eventually got out there. Was in lane 4. Race was a complete blur. Felt I was a tad slow with my reaction to the gun, but I managed to keep my head down longer than usually, which was a positive. I finished last, but felt I was maybe 2 and a half metres down on second last. It's hard to gauge as it is over so quickly, but it felt around that. Found out later that he hasn't run a 60m before but ran 11.77 for 100m last year. My initial reaction was it wouldn't be a PB based on being last, but awhile later I realised that everyone in my heat were in fact very quick guys indeed.

Rumours started circulating about 20 minutes after my race that there are no times for the 60m. I go over to the wall where they are posting results and sure enough they have published the results, with each of us with "NT" after our name. I was like an absolute bull, and to be honest was fairly pissed off for the rest of the day.

If I was a betting man, I'd say I ran in or around 7.85 to 7.89, but it can be very hard to tell in a 60m. Maybe I could have run a PB there, but I will never know. It's the worst feeling knowing that you have completely wasted your time for absolutely nothing. You'd rather a bad result than no result.

Turns out the clock for the 60m inner track was broken for the day. The outer track clock was working. Rumour has it that rain got in and destroyed the clock. All very Father Ted-esque, but then again, the whole meet has that feel about it. Everything ran way behind schedule, and it was very hard to know when to start warming up as you had no idea how many heats would be ahead of you. Getting no time for the 60m was the cherry on top.

They should have informed us beforehand that the clock wasn't working. That way we could have arranged people to video our race, and got something out of the day and used that to figure out a rough time using online apps. Of course if I was told beforehand there would be no time, I'd probably have thrown in the towel, mentally, if not physically, so it was lose lose either way. They didn't have anybody hand timing the races, though hand times for sprints are meaningless, so I wouldn't hold that against them.

Because there were no times, they basically had to just go with places for advancing people to the finals. No fastest losers. In fact in the junior mens, there were 3 heats, so they could only take 2 from each heat, as if they took 3 then there wouldn't be enough lanes to fill 9 people, and there was no way of determining fastest losers, so 2 lanes were left free for their final.

One lad came all the way from Belfast for this. Most people were there for a time. As one masters athlete said to me "I don't care about the medal, it's the time I'm after baby!!".

Bumped into Dubgal and Mulberry during the day, and I was still seething from the above, so apologies for being dreadful company if you're reading.

200m: 25.84 (lane 2)

I appreciate officials are volunteers, but surely they should have some sort of idea about what kind of things make a meet athlete friendly. There were 16 of us signed in for the 200m. The best thing to do would have been to have 4 heats of 4 so that the worst lane anybody could draw in this hugely unfair event would be lane 3. Instead they went 3 heats of 6, 5 and 5. I was unfortunate to get lane 2. That's bad luck as it was done randomly. I suppose they were looking to keep the number of heats as low as possible as they were already way behind schedule, but lane 1 should not be used except in a final, and if possible lane 2 should be removed too.

I was still bulling from the 60m, so I used that as fuel for the fire during the warm up, though the lane draw took the edge of that, as I knew realistically my PB chances were all but gone then.

We got brought out eventually after what felt like an age trying to stay warm, only to find about 20 juniors sitting on the infield waiting for their races. So another 15 minutes of keeping warm in the inner track. You really start losing interest when this type of thing happens. Had to really do my best to stay fired up for it.

Felt I ran well considering the lane draw. Two of my training partners were lanes 1 and 3, and both ran 24:xx. I finished last, about 10 metres down, but it did feel better than my previous excursions from that lane. The time confirmed this, 25.84 seconds, which was 0.19 faster than the last day in lane 2 at AAI Games 3 weeks ago, but a good 0.37 down on my PB from last week from lane 4. The event is a bit of craic but I don't think I'll ever be able to take it too seriously, as any event where random pot luck plays such a huge factor in how fast you run is a bit of a joke.

25.84 from lane 2 is hugely positive though, on top of my 25.47 from lane 4 last week. It sets me up nicely for the outdoor season and hopefully taking down that PB of 25.10, and getting myself down into 24 territory.

4x200m relay:

The 200m finished probably about 2:30 at a guess, and it wasn't until after 7:30, maybe even 7:45 by the time this race started. It was a long wait, and a long day, as had been there since before 9am, so was feeling tired. Getting 4 guys to actually stick around is an achievement in itself.

We won the Leinster 4x100 outdoors last year (albeit against very poor opposition), after doing a good bit of practice, but as this was 4x200 we seemed to think the changeovers would be easier, like what you see in a 4x400, and we didn't find any time to practice them.

There were 5 in our race, but one of the teams were the Irish masters over 35's who were guesting for some practice ahead of World Masters in Daegu next month. The senior teams were Naas, Donore and Enniscorthy. I know how fast some of the guys in Naas and Donore are so knew we wouldn't be beating them. Knew nothing about Enniscorthy, but when I saw their team I knew a medal wasn't going to happen. There were no obvious looking chinks in their armour.

One of the lads went first and he did ok from lane 2. He was passing to me. As he came towards me I started jogging, but not sprinting like in a 4x100, as I was worried he'd be tiring and slowing after double the distance. Well he ran into the back of me, and it took about 3 quick attempts before the baton was safely in my hands. It was hideous to look at,but in comparison to what was to come, it looked like a slick changeover.

I ran ok, breaking into lane 1 down the back straight, losing a bit of ground on the masters team, with the other 3 teams way ahead. I had to run out into lane 3 in the straight as that's where my teammate had to stand. I'd say my split was a 26:xx, but I wouldn't know the exact time. It wasn't great, but not terrible given the circumstances. However I ran firmly into the back of my teammate, who did to me what I did to our leg 1 runner, only that we sort of got tangled, not too dissimilar to a game of twister. It has to be the worst changeover in the history of track and field. There's a video and you can hear our coach say "ah lads". It's very very funny to watch I must admit, but it won't be seeing the light of day. Only the select few will get to enjoy it.

Our last 2 runners did a safe changeover which was by far the best of the 3. We all probably split 26, maybe our last guy low 27. Didn't get a time, but it's around 1:47/1:48 based on the video. We probably lost a good 5 seconds with the grim grim changeovers.

It was fairly embarrassing stuff, and I was pissed off with myself after and with how unprepared we were this time, compared to last June. I totally underestimated how hard a 4x400 changeover is. That's obviously an art that has to be learned. Next time we do a relay will be 4x100 at Leinsters, so we will be back in familiar territory, and hopefully better prepared.

So that's the Leinster Indoors. One of the most frustrating days I've had in athletics. There were some laughs, but for such a long long day, I didn't get adequate return on that time investment.

But it has been a great indoor season, despite how it finished, so I will come back with another post with a short review of the season, with my thoughts on it. Might as well put all the positive stuff in another post as it will be out of place in this report.

Leinster Indoors, an amateur meet. I don't want to be putting down the efforts of volunteers, and it's not easy to manage such numbers, but they need to find a way of making it a more athlete friendly meet. It was an absolute mess yesterday.

Mulberry

Big delays due to timing problems, plus far bigger numbers than usual. Both my events had two heats where normally there would only be one. A lot of new people were attracted by the new, Dublin based venue I think. We had 25 from our club which huge for us.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. I'll get a time for the 60 at the national masters on Sunday at least, you'll have to wait and wonder unfortunately...

Chivito550

Mulberry wrote: »

Big delays due to timing problems, plus far bigger numbers than usual. Both my events had two heats where normally there would only be one. A lot of new people were attracted by the new, Dublin based venue I think. We had 25 from our club which huge for us.

Anyway, onwards and upwards. I'll get a time for the 60 at the national masters on Sunday at least, you'll have to wait and wonder unfortunately...

The upshot of the shambolic nature of Sunday is that it made me do some research into well organised meets abroad, and I've booked flights to Belgium to run in that massive graded meet in Oordegem. Have heard nothing but fantastic things. Even has a bar and food stalls for when I'm done competing.

Chivito550

Before I bring an end to the brief resurfacing of this log, and put it back into hibernation, I thought I'd do a brief review of the indoor season.

60m:

Pre-season PB: 8.05 (December 2014)

This would be my first full proper go at the 60m. In the 2015 indoor season while training for the 400m, I did the event twice for fun, recording 8.05 and 8.16. 2016 was meant to be a proper attempt at the 60m, but I got injured badly in the November, and I was lacking training when I managed to get a couple of races in towards the end of the season, with the times being 8.33 and 8.19.

This season I ran the distance 5 times:

1) 7.99 PB
2) 7.89 PB
3) 7.92
4) 7.80 PB
5) No time

My goal for the season was 7.89, so to nail that so early, and then go on to take another massive chunk off it surprised me greatly. I didn't in my wildest dreams expect 7.80. Maybe I underestimated my abilities, but I wasn't all that experienced with this event before this season, so such a time seemed very far off based on my attempts in previous seasons. It's great to surprise oneself like this though, and it's hopefully a sign of things to come over the longer distances come the outdoor season.

150m:

Had never raced a 150m before. It has never been on offer at any outdoor meet, and I'm certain I could comfortably run a sub 19 if there was. Indoors it was a funny event. My time was:

1) 19.15 (Lane 4)

This really was just a test of fitness before the main season got going.

200m:

Pre-season indoor PB: 25.66 (lane 6) (February 2015)

Much like the 60m, this would be my first proper attempt at the 200m indoors. In 2015 I recorded a 25.66 from lane 6. 2016 was rough going, with two very slow times following my recovery from injury, 26.96 (lane 3) and 26.90 (lane 2). The week before my first race this season we had a mock race in training and I ran a hand timed 25.5 from lane 5, which is probably worth 25.8 electronic. This season I managed to race the distance 3 times:

1) 26.03 (lane 2)
2) 25.47 (lane 4) PB
3) 25.84 (lane 2)

I find this a frustrating event. There's too much of an advantage of having the outside lanes versus the inside lanes, so it becomes a lottery. Get lane 2, and it's almost impossible to run a PB (unless your PB is soft). I'm glad I got one good draw out of the 3 races and ran an indoor PB. I think that time is probably worth 25.2x in lane 6. In any case, it's a nice position to be in going into the outdoors.

4x200m relay:

1) 1:47.95

The less said about this the better. It's been covered in a previous post.

Thoughts:

Notwithstanding the frustration of the Leinster Championships where very little went right, the season has been a great success. I set a PB 3 times in the 60m, my main target event for the indoor season, dropping from 8.05 to 7.80, and in my secondary event, the 200m, I took my PB down from 25.66 to 25.47, and from an inferior lane.

While indoors is very much preparation for the outdoor season in the grand scheme of things, and while I've been thinking a lot already about the outdoor season, and what sort of times I might be able to run based on my new indoor PBs, I think it is important to take a step back and reflect on how well the indoor season went for a little bit, and take pride in it. I'll do that for a few days before putting a full stop beside it, and move forward.

Regarding the outdoors, I have a draft plan of what races I want to run. Most of them I've run before. I plan to run a meet in Oordegem in Belgium, which promises to be a great experience. Hopefully I'll get a meet, maybe two, in London at their Interclub meets. And of course there's the Nationals, Ton le Gaoithe, along with several more Irish meets. I'll pick and choose the ones that suit me.

The fantastic new indoor arena has been kind to me, but I'm happy to wait several months now for my next visit. There's only so much of those tight bends I can take.

vanderlyle

Chivito550 wrote: »

The fantastic new indoor arena has been kind to me, but I'm happy to wait several months now for my next visit.

Hope we won't have to wait several months for your log to "resurface"! All the best for outdoors.

Chivito550

vanderlyle wrote: »

Hope we won't have to wait several months for your log to "resurface"! All the best for outdoors.

Chivito550

***NERD ALERT***

This update is necessary to tie up that annoying loose end that has been bugging me, the lack of a time for the 60m at the Leinsters. Well yesterday I happened to receive my photo finish photo of the race, and while the time is obviously not correct, with the winner coming home in 4.7 seconds, I was able to find out exactly how far in time I was from everyone else, and how far each person in my race was from others in the race. I was 0.87 seconds down on the winner of my heat. This is where the fun begins.

I analysed each athlete in my race, looked up all their times over 60m from this season, and looked through last season too. There was a lot of information out there which has helped me form a reasonable educated estimate of my time.

1) The guy in first has a PB of 6.87, and hasn't run slower than 6.99 all season. However that 6.99 was run in the heats at Nationals, and the photo shows him easing up, so it is reasonable to expect he did likewise here. In addition he won the final by about 0.01 looking at the video I have of it. My clubmate came second, and worked out his time using some high tech video app, at 6.95, meaning this guy probably ran around 6.94 or so. Looking at how he got quicker through the rounds at Nationals, it is highly unlikely he'd have blasted out a quick heat with a final only shortly after. I'm giving him 7.00 and you'll see why when the next athletes times are then worked out.

2) The guy in second was less than 0.01 down on the first place guy. But in the final he was comfortably down in third. Looking at his 9 results all season, and other than a pair of 6.91s at intervarsities, he's been consistently between 6.99 and 7.03 for the most part. The average of all his times was 7.00. He also appears to run just as quickly in heats, semi finals and finals, and Nationals is a big example of this. The fact he was level with the first place guy, while easily beaten in the final suggests he wasn't holding back in his heat. 7.00 to 7.01 for this guy (depending on rounding).

3) The third place guy then comes in at 7.05, which is 0.03 down on a time he ran at National Junior/Under 23s. Again makes perfect sense.

4) The fourth place guy then comes in at 7.14, which funny enough is the average of his 4 other times I could find from this season, and including 2 times from last year, his average is 7.15. His best seems to be 7.11. Again very reasonable estimate here.

5) The fifth place guy then comes in at 7.21. All I could find for him for this year was a 7.28, but he has a 7.24 from last year. So a small PB is certainly possible.

6) I've less info on this guy. His estimated time of 7.29 looks solid though as I came across a time from him a few years back as an under 19 for 100m which would suggest 7.35 to 7.40 over 60. He's obviously stronger now as an adult so 7.29 makes sense, particularly given he is triple jumping further now than then (seems to be his main event).

7) The lad one place ahead of me who had an 11.77 from last year. He doesn't seem to do many sprints, so hard to make any reasonable prediction for what he would run anyway, but the 7.42 estimate here is not a crazy time to expect from a pole vaulter, who is probably better over 60 than 100 (his 100m time suggests around 7.54ish).

8) And then that brings things to me. Being 0.87 down on the winner gives me 7.87 seconds. I know picking 7.00 is an educated guess, but when you see how reasonable everyone else's times become when you take 7.00 for the first place guy, then things start to feel as close to as accurate as is realistically possible in these circumstances. 7.87 probably makes sense for me given I didn't feel I ran as well as at Nationals, and I probably peaked for Nationals, and had more adrenaline for it.

So I'm going to take an unofficial 7.87 seconds as my time, and have an astericks beside it. The time is probably between 7.85 and 7.90, but 7.87 probably statistically the most likely of all. I'm very happy that I'm a bit off my PB and that I wasn't done out of a PB. That would have been hard to take. At least now I know that the chances of me running a PB are extremely slim (would mean everybody else were hitting big PBs, which just aint happening). I feel I can move on from it all now, and let it go. Let's hope that this type of thing never happens again.

So to tie up the loose end and to draw a line under the indoor season here's my list of 60m times:

Pre-season PB: 8.05

1) 7.99 PB
2) 7.89 PB
3) 7.92
4) 7.80 PB
5) 7.87*

How's that for detective work!

Chivito550

First meet of the season last Saturday. Very nervous before this one. Pure anticipation to get the outdoor season underway and to get into the habit of racing. Wanted to stop guessing what shape I was in based on indoor results and to get a more accurate reflection.

Conditions: around 11/12 degrees, cloudy, dry, calm for 100m, little breezier for 200m around the bend.

100m - 12.43 (+0.0)

0.08 down on my PB. My third fastest time ever after 12.35 (+1.5) and 12.40 (+1.3). Was in lane 1 and finished 6th of 6, about half a second down on second last. Wind reading a bit suspect as all races got 0.0, though it did feel fairly still.

200m - 25.28

0.18 down on my PB. Was in lane 4. No wind indicated. There was a cross wind and felt it a bit on the bend but not on the straight. 3rd fastest time ever after 25.10 (+0.5) and 25.26 (+1.6). Was in a mixed race against Sinead Denny and Aisling Drumgoole, both 400m runners. Finished a close second to the former, 0.25 down. Was a very good competitive race to be in. We were kept standing behind our blocks for a long time which wasn't ideal as temperatures were slightly nippy.

Happy with those times for first meet of season.

Chivito550

200m - 25.45 (+2.6)

Hadn't planned on doing this, but decided at about 3pm that I'd go for it because the weather was so nice. We are on a taper week this week anyway so didn't miss any key training session by doing it, and it provided good racing practice ahead of the more important meets to come. Didn't even have a singlet with me, so ran in a t-shirt.

Was in lane 6 and finished third in my race. It was a so-so run. I felt tired and lethargic in the leadup to the race, so I guess the result is no more than what I could have expected realistically.

I was 0.17 down on last Saturday, and 0.35 down on my PB. I wasn't fully in race mode and sort of saw it more as a training session time trial. My pre-race routine (food, rest etc) differs so vastly on a weekend to what I can manage on a work day evening. I'm not happy with the time, but given my distaste for competing at gradeds it was a pretty decent run out.

There's no point over analysing why I seem to struggle to find my best in these Graded Meets. I don't plan on racing any more of them this season anyway. Better just to take the benefits from it and play to my strengths for the rest of the season, and those strengths are weekend meets.

I'm suspect of that wind reading as while there was a slight breeze, it didn't feel like +2.6 and I felt nothing into my face over the first 50m.

Chivito550

Great day at the Wind Sprints Meet in Waterford. First up a very sloppy 12.32 in the 100m with a +3.8 wind, 0.03 faster than my PB but with a very illegal tailwind. Then a much improved run in the second 100m, 12.20 with a +1.8 legal wind, a PB by 0.15 seconds. Great to see something tangible like that for all the training put in since last October. Then the rain came down, and only managed a 25.46 in the 200m, with a +4.1 wind on the straight, but probably a -7 headwind on the bend. 0.36 down on the PB. Not the day for a 200m PB. Hopefully that's to come soon.

Might have to do up a race report for this one I think.

OOnegative

Nice going on the 100m PB.

Chivito550

One of the few innovative ideas in Irish athletics, Ton le Gaoithe, arse to the wind, is a wind sprints meet in Waterford, where the side of the track that guarantees a tailwind is used for the races. It's an athlete friendly concept, and also the only sprinters only track meet in Ireland. As a result in excess of 140 sprinters made the trip down to this very popular meet, now in it's third year.

Last year was a great success for me. I ran a PB of 12.53 (bettering my previous best of 12.58) in the 100m, then backed it up with a 12.54, before running a 200m PB of 25.26 (improving on my previous best of 25.42). Again this year I bookmarked it as one of my key meets for the year.

Training update:

Training has gone well since the indoors. We were given some time off towards the end of March, so I had a week of no training. Since indoors I've started back at phase 1 of the gym, and am now back up into phase 3. We've built back into the track work, with some technical endurance work on Wednesdays and speed work on Saturdays. In addition we've been doing an awesome block of Sunday hill sessions out in Killiney Hill, which includes some long distance hill running (1 mile, won't be looking into the oul IMRA just yet!), plyometrics on steps, step running up 115 steps which make the legs feel like wobbling jelly, some conventional hills on grass, and then some downhill running. Real selection box sessions, very tough, but a lot of fun.

I also went to Portugal with the girlfriend for 5 days, and got 3 good warm weather training sessions while I was there, including 2 track sessions, all in glorious 24 degrees.

Opening races:

My PBs entering this season are 12.35 (+1.5) and 25.10 (+0.5). I opened my season in Greystones last weekend with encouraging runs of 12.43 and 25.28. Then on Wednesday night I made a late call to run the graded in Tallaght given the lovely weather. I wasn't in full racing mode, and felt tired having come from work, and ran 25.45.

Waterford:

I wasn't nearly as nervous ahead of this meet as I was ahead of my season opener in Greystones, and was very relaxed going down in the car with the rest of the gang. Wednesday's meet sort of calmed me, and stopped me building up suspense ahead of this meet throughout the week. Now that I'm in racing mode, I'm much better at handling pre-meet nerves. The first meet is by far the worst.

Conditions:

The forecast looked poor all week, and I must have checked the weather about 300 times over the course of the week, checking different weather sites in the hope that I'd see something more positive. No real joy. A band of rain was on the way and there was nothing stopping it. Fortunately it wasn't due into Waterford until after 3pm, so the 100s would be mainly dry affairs. Temperatures were around 13 degrees. Not cold, not warm. It was incredibly windy though. Despite being a diagonal wind into the athletes faces around the bend, there were still several +3 and +4 wind readings from the races, so who knows how strong the headwind must have been around the bend. That would be for later however, first I had two 100m races to tackle.

100m Race 1:

I was in the 7th and final race, and there were 7 of us in the race. I was in lane 3, and there was a training partner beside me in lane 2. I got out poorly, and didn't have the level of power taking off as I would have expected, and I was far too close to my clubmate who had never broken 13 seconds before, for my liking (he ended up smashing his PB twice, and running 12.7x both times). I felt quite off balanced during a portion of the race, no doubt the massively illegal tailwind, doing as much harm as good. Overall it felt very sloppy and I knew I could do far better. My time was 12.32 seconds with a hugely illegal +3.8 wind. It was the fastest I ever ran, beating my previous best by 0.03, but I just could not count this as a PB. Had the wind been 2.2 or 2.3 I'd be more lenient, but not with 3.8. I finished 5th in the race.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGP2jdLViWI

100m Race 2:

I knew I would run a better second race. Last year I ran ok in the first race, and then stepped it up in the second 100m (ran 0.01 slower but actually got a slight headwind, rather than decent tailwind, so was a much better run). I saw no reason why the same couldn't happen here. I was in racing mode now, dusted off the cobwebs, and would make sure not to make the same mistakes as last time.

It was the same line up and same lanes as the last time, except the top 2 guys from the last race didn't run. Of the 5 who ran, I was third last time, with one lad running 12.06 or so, and another guy being 12.2x. The 12.06 guy was beside me in lane 4, and I was determined to stick as close to him this time as possible, having been soundly beaten by him by a quarter of a second last time out.

I was a bit slow getting over the start line area, and so rushed things a little. I was paying attention to the heats ahead of me, I just forgot I had to sign my name in with the starter. I don't think I quite set my blocks up perfectly as a result. Gun went off, and I reacted really well and powerfully, but stumbled coming out of the blocks. It was a small blip, but not a disaster as I got out really strong, and I was already really close to the guy beside me in the early stages. For the rest of the race I felt absolutely fantastic, relaxed, strong, and in the zone. I stayed close to him most of the way, and then moved up on him in the closing 30m, and dipped level with him on the line, for what would be a photo finish for the race win. After I crossed the line I saw 12.21 on the clock, and I fist pumped the air as I saw it.

My initial reaction was "it's going to be a windy time, but at least that's a better reflection now, than the last run". I fully expected to hear some awful tailwind of +3 or whatever, even though I didn't feel it at my back this time. However, low and behold, word gets out from the results tent on the finish line that it was legal. I nearly lost my sh1t when I heard this. Wind 1.8!!! My time was also corrected down, and so I ran a brand new PB of 12.20 seconds with a +1.8 tailwind, bettering my previous best by a sizeable 0.15 seconds. I was absolutely over the moon. So much work has gone into this since starting back training late last September, so to get a big brand new PB like that outdoors, where it really matters, was very satisfying. To cap it all off, I got the race win, which is not something which happens often for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3pcoZ_bb-8

200m:

I was buzzing after the 100m, and felt no pressure now going into the 200m, as I was going home with a PB regardless. However, I still very much wanted to run well. I considered this to be a bonus now. However the rain came down a few minutes after my 100m ended and continued for the rest of the meet, and the wind was still blowing strong, and crucially in a direction that was right into the faces of 200m runners on the bend. The wind readings would measure huge tailwinds, but wind readings are flawed in the 200m, as it only measures the speed on the straight, and it does not measure the wind direction, or the wind speed on the bend. These weren't great conditions, but I had nothing to lose.

I checked the time of my race and what heat I was in (heat 8 of 9), and planned my warm up around this. It's partly my fault for not paying attention to the fact that they started running through the 200m heats really fast, but also not great form to run ahead of schedule like that without announcements, but basically my 200m race started almost 15 minutes before it was supposed to. I had begun my warm up 25 minutes before the planned race time (I'm already warmed up from previous races, so just ticking over doing shorter warm ups), so I only had 10 minutes actually warming up. More than half of that was stretches, so I basically had to rush through a few strides before getting into my blocks. Not ideal, but I didn't get riled up about it, and kept my cool.

I was in lane 4, and was on the inside of 4 runners. A guy who I lost to in the first 100, but beat into 3rd in the second 100m was in lane 7. The other 2 lads were a good bit faster. Got out well and went flat out to 50. However my float phase was hard work, and I made my way through the wind and rain around the bend. As I hit the straight I didn't have the same zip as I usually do at that point. I'd no doubt worked harder in these conditions in the earlier part of the race than I usually do. The guy in lane 7 had a small lead on me entering the straight and he held it throughout, which was a bit disappointing. I still felt I ran well however, in difficult conditions. My time was 25.46 seconds with a +4.1 following wind, which on paper sounds great, but the reality was I was running into a -6 wind probably for a portion of the bend. Had the tailwind been going diagonally in the other direction, then the result would have been very different. Hopefully some calm days to come, so I can bring my 200m PB back in line with my new 100m PB.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPqmny8Ds30

Reflection:

To come away with a big 100m PB so early in the season is very satisfying. I'm confident with that speed now, the 200m PB is bound to come down once I get the right day. But that can be for another day, For now, it's important to enjoy this one.

Chivito550

Incredible experience today at the IFAM athletics meet in Oordegem, Belgium, despite not quite getting the results I hoped for. First up 12.37 (+1.0) in the 100m, down on my 12.20 (+1.8) PB from 2 weeks ago, but pretty much on par with my next best. Then ran 25.15 (+0.9) in the 200m, a season's best, and my second fastest run ever, an agonising 0.05 slower than my PB. Temperatures very hot, at 25/26 degrees for the 100m, and 30 degrees for the 200m, with no cloud cover or shade at all. Found the warm up a real slog, so happy to come away with a very good result in the 200m. Very nervous before the 100, first time running in a meet like this abroad, but handled it better for the 200. Learned loads so happy for the most part. 2700 athletes competing, 15 hours of non stop athletics, beer, BBQ, pumping lively music, free massage, results appearing within 1 minute of finishing the race. Also more female entries in the 100 and 200 than male entries which is unheard of back home. The Belgians know how to do athletics properly. Hopefully get back for one more this summer. Time for several beers and top class athletics with the bigger names coming on soon.

Chivito550

Good day at the Leinsters in Tullamore. First up 25.18 for 200m into a -0.9 headwind. Third fastest time ever, just 0.08 down on the PB from last year, and 0.03 down on Belgium last weekend. Fastest ever time into a headwind too. Then 12.27 in the 100m with a +0.6 tailwind. Second fastest time ever, just 0.07 down on the PB which was run with a +1.8, so probably a slightly better run this time adjusting for wind.

Mulberry

Well done, sounds like some PBs there for you before the season's out.

How did you get the wind reading for your races? I can't see them on the results.

Chivito550

Mulberry wrote: »

Well done, sounds like some PBs there for you before the season's out.

How did you get the wind reading for your races? I can't see them on the results.

Thanks Mulberry. Already nailed a big PB in the 100 this season, but it hasn't quite translated into the 200 yet. Am right on the level of my PB from last season, so hopefully it's only a matter of time. Still have hopefully 5 meets remaining. Only 2 of those will be in Ireland probably, with the others in London and Belgium. Have an option of a 6th and final meet in Cambridge, on the first Sunday of World Championships if I still haven't nailed it by then (as will be over in London for the World Championships anyway) but hopefully it won't come to that.

I just went up and hounded them for the wind readings and results. They showed me the wind readings on the computer screen. I never leave Leinsters without getting my full results as you could be waiting a week otherwise. A far cry from Belgium where my result popped up on a computer screen in "mixed zone" (for want of better description) within 60 seconds of crossing the finish line.

Chivito550

25.22 for 200m into a -0.5 headwind at Northern Ireland Championships in Belfast, just 0.12 down on my PB set pretty much a year to the day ago. Bit gutted as felt great in the race, and the last time I felt as exhausted after a 200 was my PB, so felt it was a good omen that I had nailed a 24, or at the least a new PB, but not to be this time. Very windy day, with it coming from all angles but could have been worse for my race given how it was at other points during the day. 25.15, 25.18 and 25.22 in the last 3 weeks. Consistency to be proud of. Hopefully it will come by season's end. Earlier in the day ran 12.54 in the 100m into a -1.7 headwind, well down on PB of 12.20, but adjusting both for wind, it wasn't far off at all. Always worth making the journey up for this competition. Head and shoulders above the other provincial championships in terms of organisation.

Chivito550

Thought I'd post a quick recap on a busy period of racing (posted very briefly in the last few posts), with races 3 weekends in a row.

IFAM - Oordegem (Belgium)

This was a whole new experience for me, and I was feeling quite nervous before my first race. A totally different environment, away from the comfort zone of the usual meets we have in Ireland. Flew in to Brussels the night before, and got a train to Aalst where I stayed, 10km from Oordegem. The room was like a fully functioning sauna, from the extremely hot weather Belgium was getting. Thankfully I eventually got the air conditioner working, otherwise I'd have been screwed. Actually had a dream I missed my alarm and therefore was too late for my first race. The relief was mighty when I woke up.

Then there was the distraction upon waking up, and seeing a text message asking to confirm my purchase of business chauffeur trips in London. Some punter in the UK was having a field day with my bank card. I decided to not let it stress me, took out enough money for the rest of the trip, and cancelled my card over the phone.

100m: 12.37 (+1.0). Was in lane 2, and finished 5th of 7, in heat 10 of 11 (heats were graded based on entry times). Conditions a very hot 25/26 degrees with pure sunshine, no shade or cloud cover. I did my full warm up, which is hindsight was a mistake. I should have cut it back a bit, so not to waste energy in those conditions. I was very nervous before this race. First ever race in a meet like this. Didn't run my best race, was a bit sloppy. Thought I felt a headwind, so was surprised to see tailwind. Must have been coming at a crosswind angle. 0.17 down on my PB, but with a lighter tailwind. Solid performance.

200m: 25.15 (+0.9), lane 3, 6th out of 7, in heat 10 of 12.

Decided to just enjoy the 200m, and not get so worked up, like I did for the 100m. Had been talking to Paul Byrne earlier, and he said "this is what it's all about, just enjoy it", so that was my plan. The warm up wasn't fun though. It was now up to 30/31 degrees, maybe higher, and I cut back my warm up a bit. I also took breaks sitting in the shade every few minutes, so not to be out in the sun for 40 minutes non stop. It was brutal. Sweat was dripping off me. I competed in this type of stuff a good bit in Australia, but I've re-acclimatised to Irish weather by now.

Felt I ran a great race, and did all I could. The last 50m were murder as the track was so hot my feet were literally burning. I've had that sensation a few times in Australia, but not for a few years now.

I finished an agonising 0.05 down on my PB. I was a bit gutted, but also very pleased to put in a performance like that in this type of meet.

IFAM was a fantastic experience, one of the best I have had in athletics. 2700 athletes competing from 10:30am to 2:00am. There was free massage. There was non stop lively music. There were BBQ. There was beer (strong and normal). There were more women competing in 100m and 200m than men, something which is a million miles from what we have in Ireland. There were about 100 Irish over there, and it was great to see many run so well. There was super craic in the evening, with a fair few of us enjoying the strong Belgian beer. Probably the funniest part of the day was one poor lad who travelled all the way over to run in a 5000m, which was the very last event on the programme, kicking off at 1:45am. We felt obliged to stay (over one last beer) to give the poor chap some moral support. I'd been drinking for 8 hours by that stage!

I've planned a trip back to Belgium the week before Nationals, to have another crack at a big meet over there, in Ninove, another one of the Flanders Cup meets. It was hands down the best organised meet I've ever been part of. Entry fee was just €5 per event, and yet they could manage computer screens all around the venue, where your result appeared within 60 seconds of finishing. We are so far behind the game here.

Leinster Championships - Tullamore

Tough few days in the leadup to this, as I was over in the UK for my cousin's funeral. I wasn't nervous in the slightest going into this. It just didn't seem important at the time. But I wanted to run well for him, and was thinking of him when standing behind my blocks for both races. And I did run well.

200m: 25.18 (-0.9). Pity about the headwind in the straight, or this could have been even quicker. But the wind was at my back around the bend, so it was a good headwind rather than a bad one, where you are running into it the whole way. I was in lane 2. Backed up my time from the week before, my third fastest ever, and just 0.08 down on the PB.

100m: 12.27 (+0.6). The wind was all over the place throughout the day, but it went back to a tailwind in time for the 100m. My blocks wouldn't stick into the ground so I had to get an official to stand on them (the contrast between Belgium and Leinsters was never so clear), which was annoying but just had to get on with it. Thought my start was poor, but this was probably because they guys around me were so quick. I ran very well, and felt I must have been close to my PB. Unfortunately I came up just short, but just 0.07 off my best, second fastest ever, and actually better than my PB adjusting for wind.

Northern Ireland Championships - Belfast

100m: 12.54 (-1.7). We got headwinds throughout the day despite Met Eireann forecasting tailwinds. Felt I ran well, maybe too relaxed actually. Into that headwind there was never going to be a PB. Time is only 0.04 down on my PB when both are adjusted for wind, so a good run.

200m: 25.22 (-0.5). I was in lane 2, and I felt I nailed it. I felt fantastic in the race, and while I tied up badly in the last 20m, I felt I left everything out there. When I ran my PB I tied up badly too, and like the time I ran my PB, I was particularly exhausted afterwards. I just had a real feeling I nailed a 24 this time, or at least a new PB, but I was left disappointed with a 25.22. The consistency the last 3 weeks has been great though, so I am pleased with that.

It was a very windy day, and while I got a headwind it could have been so much worse, and I at least had the wind at my back on the bend. However had I been in the first 200m heat I'd have had the stroke of luck of the wind following them the whole way around. They somehow got a +1.8, on a day full of headwinds.

So half the season is over for me. A quick recap on results:

100m:

Pre-season PB: 12.35 (+1.5)

1) 12.43 (+0.5)
2) 12.32 (+3.8)
3) 12.20 (+1.8) PB
4) 12.37 (+1.0)
5) 12.27 (+0.6)
6) 12.54 (-1.7)

200m:

Pre-season PB: 25.10 (+0.5)

1) 25.28 (+0.6)
2) 25.45 (+2.6)
3) 25.46 (+4.1)
4) 25.15 (+0.9)
5) 25.18 (-0.9)
6) 25.22 (-0.5)

It has been a successful season so far. I've taken 0.15 off my 100m PB, and have gone under my old PB twice (3 times including the heavily wind assisted 12.32). The 200m I haven't got my PB yet, but 3 of my best 4, and indeed 4 of my best 6 times have come from this season so far. Fingers crossed the second half of the season goes well.